81    Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan 

 This is really close to, “He didn’t plan to fail, He just failed to plan “but this idea is so important, it s worth repeating. When you get up in the morning, if you do not have a clear plan laid out for that day, you have really no chance of getting what should be done, done. Leaving things to chance, letting other people and events run the agenda, has gotten you where, so far? The best time you will spend, is the time you spend working on a plan, a direction of what you want to do. Armed with this plan, you now have a fighting chance to get those activities and tasks in that plan done. 

   In Time Management you will see this constant theme; there will be a thought process, followed by an action process. One without the other is usually very ineffective. 

82    You Have To Have The Patience To Hone Your Skills 

Once you get the skill set, you then have to have the patience to hone those skills. Someone can show you how to hit a golf ball, give you the skill set, unless you practice and hone those skills, just knowing how to hit the ball without the skills being worked on is pretty much a waste of time. The Power Time Management System requires a commitment and requires a new set of skills to be absorbed and implemented. We do not hide that fact from people. You are not going to pick up the PTS and in a week or two be an expert who can implement all the systems, policies, procedures, tricks, shortcuts and tools we cover without some sweat equity. Be patience, your patience will be rewarded. 

83    Time Management is for Your Personal Life Too 

Too often we look at just spending time in trying to get our life organized just as it pertains to our jobs or businesses. We shut off the mind when we get home and then turn it on when we head back to the salt mines the next morning. You are missing a golden opportunity to put the practices you learn here, to superb use at home. Planning a successful family vacation requires every bit the same skills as organizing a 3 month project at work. The same effort you put into selecting and Prioritizing activities at work should also go into planning what gets done on a long weekend at home. Don’t turn off the skills you are developing at work when you walk into your own home. 

84    No Telephone/Telephones in Meeting Rooms 

This is one of those lightening rod issues that come up in every seminar and meeting that I attend, give. It’s about control and who has it. Do you control your time, or are you willing to give up that control to just about any one. You are doing just that when you allow telephones/ a telephone in the room you are holding a meeting in. One of the stipulations when I rent a room for a seminar or meeting is that the phones are removed from the room. Yes, physically removed from the room. If the phone is attached to the wall, some one from maintenance comes in and unscrews it from the wall.  If they don’t I don’t pay the bill. 

  As for cell phones and other hand held technological pacifiers, they are asked to leave them in there rooms, out side the hall in the lock boxes we provide, the safe in the lobby, any where but in the room, thank you very much. There are breaks in the mid morning, a lunch break, an afternoon break and the seminar ends at 5:00 ample time to check in if needed be. As I’ve said, this is about control over your time, which has it, you or somebody else. If you can not turn off your phone or access to it for what amounts to 1 ½ time blocks then you have a problem with more than your control over your time. 

   The telephone is really a symbol of where you are in the battle for the control of your time. The whole concept of Time Management hinges on you being able to have the discipline to be able to close the door, take the phone off the hook and actually accomplish some task or project and have the confidence in the planning process that you will not implode. Being surgically attached to a phone is a clear sign that you are not in control of your time or your life. (This is one of the top 3 issues that cause the most screaming and shouting in seminars. Nothing beats a good shouting match to wake the sleepers in the back rows) 

85    Nice Guys Finish Without The Use Of There Own Time 

Who hasn’t heard the one about nice guys finish last. It’s true here as well. That’s the reason you feel so lousy at the end of a busy day. You worked your butt off but still feel like you didn’t accomplish anything. You are partially right. You probably accomplished a lot, but not for the right person, you. You let the other people and events around you pull you off your game and got you to play there game instead. Instead of driving and being in charge, you were led and ended up responding to there needs instead of your own. 

   Its all about attitude and perspective. Its all about being the bug or the windshield. 

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